Mashreqbank invests in management solution

13 November 2008

Mashreqbank is the largest private bank, and one of the leading financial institutions, in the United Arab Emirates.

The bank’s records management facilities were dependent on a time- and paper-intensive filing process, with many physical files stored in large filing cabinets. “These occupied a lot of space, and it was a nightmare to find a single document,” says Ajith Harasgama, vice president at Mindscape Information Technology, the consulting and services arm of Mashreqbank. “It was a huge task to manage. Moreover, documents such as passport copies had to be replaced once expired. This meant that a member of staff needed to search for a record to locate a document, and this often required a series of searches in the actual storing room.”

Mashreqbank decided to invest in a new records management solution, and delegated the project to Mindscape IT. “We wanted a Microsoft integrated solution with high modularity that could be shaped to fulfil our requirements,” says Harasgama. After a nine-month evaluation period and consultation with Gartner, Mindscape chose Hummingbird Enterprise.

“Hummingbird Enterprise was particularly appreciated because of its architecture, modularity of applications, and scalability, which reduce costs and efforts,” says Shirly Carneiro, senior software engineer at Mindscape IT. “GTFS-Clientsoft in Abu Dhabi took care of the installation and data migration. Hummingbird Enterprise has been implemented in a relatively short time, while still permitting customisation on an ongoing basis.”

Mashreqbank has achieved its goal of a paperless office, and the execution of documents from a physical to an electronic format is now virtually automated. The most significant immediate benefit was the ability for employees to easily check and share information, which translated to increased productivity.

The solution also reduced the burden on staff in different office locations. For example, loan applications used to be forwarded by branch staff to head office for approval via internal mail. Now they can be viewed by head office personnel and approved or declined in a matter of hours instead of days. This has resulted in increased efficiency and improved customer service levels.

Mashreqbank’s employees are now able to file, manage and find records faster and with less effort than before, while training costs were minimised because the solution seamlessly integrates with Microsoft Office, a productivity suite that employees are familiar with.